Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite holiday. I love the food, the season, the emphasis on giving thanks and being with friends and family. I also got engaged right before Thanksgiving…many moons ago. :)
I think for every Thanksgiving that I’ve spent with my parents, after we eat my dad will introduce the same game, whether it’s just family or we’ve invited friends. It’s an alphabet thankfulness game where one person says something to be thankful for starting with ‘A.’ The next person repeats the ‘A’ thing from person one and adds something for ‘B.’ You move through the alphabet until you have something for every letter. ‘X’ can get tricky but it’s fun to see how creative people can be! This repetition forces you to pay attention and stretches those brain muscles after a full meal.
But it’s not just reciting things we’re thankful for; it’s an acknowledgment of Who those things are from: God. At the beginning of each round, you say, “God is the source of all good things and I’m thankful for….”
Gratitude is a characteristic lacking in society today. People believe they are entitled to everything but don’t need to be thankful for anything. As much as independence can be a good trait, when we are so independent as to think the world revolves around us, we forget we are nothing. All things — big and little — come from our gracious Lord. He is the source of everything, and may we take time to truly be thankful.
Photo by Simon Maage on Unsplash